The Great Coffee Experiment

Dear Turkey,

Once again, I know what you're thinking: "what's so great about a coffee experiment? I don't even like coffee."

Fine. You can just skip this post. In case you're still reading, I'll tell you what's so great about it: I did it at home. By myself. With only NPR and a fire in the non-vented propane fireplace for company. I could have even turned off my phone if I were brave enough.

So, I have two coffee makers:

Pros: makes really good coffee, milk frother. Cons: lots of little parts to wash, has a plug, doesn't make much at once.

Pros: easy to use and wash, makes a lot at once, works while camping. Cons: you have to wait for the water to boil.

Research question: is it really worth it to use the espresso maker?

Hypothesis: No, it only makes snobs feel better. 

Materials:

The World's Best Coffee (don't believe me? do an experiment)

Procedure: make some coffee. Use the same amount for each machine. Grind it all at once. Use the same amount and temperature of water. Heat up your mugs before adding the coffee.

Taste test: French Press on right. In between, cleanse your palate with...more coffee?

Results: I had some tasty coffee. They were different, but not that much different. The espresso had...let's not get too technical here...more...taste. I didn't want to get heartburn so I combined (gasp!) them in a jar in the fridge for iced coffee later. 

Sources of error: when you combine coffee with frothed soy milk and hazelnut syrup you can't really appreciate its finer points anyway.

And giant muffins don't really cleanse your palate either.

Well, Turkey, you've probably stopped reading long ago. So long, fellow coffee science geeks,
Tofu